How The Dead Lived
by Vampire Crayons
Summary: Mary Alice Brandon's story. A world that subsists even beyond her memory.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I promise, this is the last story I'll be starting for awhile. Updates only, from now on, unless I just can't resist. Tell me what you think, please :o)**

Prelude: Only The After Life

_Vampire Crayons_

…

Some stories have happy endings, and an unfortunate few, however, do not. I cannot say which is which for my own past because I simply do not remember. Occasionally I spend my twilights imagining a human life for myself, with a smiling family and warm kisses on both of my fleshy cheeks from my non-existent relatives. I place Jasper beside me while I hold a squealing baby with blonde hair and blue eyes, tall and leonine as always as we pose for a portrait in our Sunday's best. I would have named him Edward and hoped for him to grow to become the perfect gentleman my brother is, today. But, I know, its painful to plant false hopes like little seeds into my imperfect mind; yet as long as I exist I'll always be wondering 'what if'. What if I was never thrown into the asylum where my creator found me and I never left to behold my savoir, my handsome Jasper? What would happen if all my memories were intact and I lead a life of living and dying? Again, I can't answer this- I can't recall ever being human. I only see the hole and all its glorifying black depth and feel the dirt under my pale inhuman fingers while I lifted my new self out of the dark, like I had done so long before. This is the only life I have ever known, and will, in all probability, remain so.

Mary Alice Brandon Cullen

…

Chapter One: Death Defying Damp

I would be damned, oh wait, I already am, if they would try to drag me to the electrocuting chair, today. My hair still smelled foul like ash from the last stunt that singed my hair. But my vision only showed me the same nondescript door it had been predicting for the past week. So I don't expect anything less than what it's always been. The burning stink wasn't as bad as when I decided to go on my first- and I'll say_ only_ hungry strike. They force-fed me raw eggs until I was sick and forcing it back up. The attendants could've let me starve like they did so many other "patients" before me. But the death toll was rising and they didn't want the infamous Mary Alice dying before they all had a chance to shine.

That's right, they mocked me! In the papers! _Insane Brandon Girl Pleads She Sees the Future, Progress on the Mary Alice Case, Is she Insane- Or Just lying?_

Mr. Krimley- my dutiful watch man- always tossed the latest headlines into my cell through the barred windows, knowing how fueled it gets me. I kick, punch, and scream at the whitewashed walls until orders come and he can restrain me: usually resulting in bruising and groping. Of course, I fight back until more force comes and the medical nurse enters to sedate me. I don't mind the morphine and the other drugs contaminating my system- it's, actually, an all time high for me. Even though when the medication wears off my temples throb painfully, it's better than being touched by that sick man.

I had everything about this place, including myself. My lustrous black hair that once waved down to my tailbone, now sticks out at odd angles from weeks of bed-head. The only showers I am allowed are once a month and scorch my skin or turn my lips to an azure blue. In fact, even the actually insane prisoners here are healthier this place and all its civil workers.

I wish I could run, scratch myself out of these stonewalls and take down a few with me. The most I could do was shuffle my cankered ankles forward toward my next unwanted destination… I was an elite in here- and that's no honor: one of the untamable ones. This mustang would not be broken. I was always one step ahead of the others with my power of premonition.

"Off somewhere new today, aren't you Mary Alice?" Krimley whispered darkly in my ear, the booze fogging his breath. Alcohol was impossible to sneak into their little sanitarium of torture. I was the only one that saw him pilfering the bottles of golden brand from the medic's cabinet.

_Somewhere new? _I questioned with myself. If only my visions were a little more helpful and a bit less vague.

"We're teaching you how to swim today," he cackled, rubbing a calloused finger down my tensed arm that was caught is manacles behind me. "Don't you like to swim?" All the patients I had met, if they weren't mental cases before, certainly came out of the 'pool area' one. No one was as strong or as confident as me, though. I could take it, just as long as I got my usual fix afterwards.

My two attendants roughly pushed me inside the cheep wooden door, and before I could take in my surroundings, my head was thrust into bone chilling water.

I wasn't prepared, coughing and sputtering as they pulled me out of the water basin. I tried to drag in a deep breath causing me to choke some more. I gasped and dove headfirst again by their hands at my neck. I attempted to struggle free of my captors, but to no avail.

"Mary Alice Brandon, you cannot see the future!" One shouted in my ear as he yanked me out of the water with a fist of my short hair. This was my chance to respond.

"I can, I can see the f-." I wallowed in the death defying damp. The air surrounded me another time.

"You cannot, you impudent girl!" I felt the welt starting the form from the slap I received. I screamed in pain and argued back. This time, instead of drowning me, they shoved me to the full and proceeded to kick me in the ribs and back. I whined and protested and soon fell silent hoping they would stop when they thought I was unconscious.

"Didn't see this coming, did you?" the familiar growl of my guard said while he stomped on my leg. A bloodcurdling scream resonated from within me.

"Stop, stop!" Somebody new commanded, and I was surprised it wasn't me. "What are you doing to this patient? This is a mental institution, not a boxing match!" My attackers scuttled out of the room like scolded puppies with tails between their legs at the force of the voice. My one eye was swollen and the other was shut with as much force as I could muster.

"Alice, are you alright?" Nobody ever called me Alice, the name I preferred. I only shuddered in reply as his icy fingers hoisted me up into his arms. "Come, with me, I will help you." I didn't need help, I only needed freedom: something these idiotic doctors didn't understand. But I didn't have a fighting chance with the new man.

"M-m-morphine," I chattered through my frantic teeth. I needed something to stop the pain of this internal wound. How people could be so cruel, it killed me everyday until the sharp stab of a sterile needle resurrected the life in me, to an extent. Home with my parents, when I had once thought they loved me, was peaceable and I was exuberant. But when the visions began to occur, they distanced themselves from me. Even my beloved sister, Cynthia ceased to adore me. The tightly drawn line snapped when one premonition depicted our neighbor's death. They scorned me and told me to keep quiet or the others would wonder about me. However, the tables turned when old Mrs. Partridge was found dead with a fever and open eyes in her bed, just like I had seen. In fear, they sent me to the local Mental Asylum, and not once have they come to visit me. Not once have I ever seen the light of the sun since that fateful day, and I never will. I have a feeling that I will die here. Not an exact future, but I am so sure, none-the-less.

"I can't give you any now," The attractive husky voice sang. "I need you to talk, and when we're done I'll make sure you're properly sedated."

"Thank you," I croaked, snuggling closer to my savior. When I finally opened the one eye that I could, I saw the unmistakable face of a seraph- someone new to the institution. Did some unknown power send me a hero? Only concern etched deep in his face.

_Save me, save me, you have to save me!_ I pleaded with my eyes. His own dark burgundy pair seemed to reply, _yes. I am here for you, Mary Alice Brandon. I am here._

**Music for this chapter, closest I can find: **_**Fast as You Can; Fiona Apple**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Caught Like a Prey

_Vampire Crayons_

I've never been in this room before, so warm and the sofa's engulfing and comfy. I'm astounded to see an actual wood-burning fireplace set into the wall, instead of the faulty boilers; I'd thought they were taboo in this kind of an institution. Some illogical-headed captive could wreak some serious havoc with a tool like that to toy around with. Then again, I don't think patients were permitted in here, anyways.

The man sat at the desk opposite where he set me on the couch where I dared not move even a fraction of an inch. He pulled out my personal file; I could see from my name scrawled at the top in neat pen, a very doctor-like thing to do- something uncommon around this place. I wonder if he knew the policies of this place- beat until senseless and then knock some new sense into them. Yep, the town's local hellhole for the people you just don't want to deal with.

"Mary Alice-." he began and I cut him off: "Please, call me Alice." He smiled his consent. "From what I understand, you claim… you can see the future?"

"I _can_ see the future," I replied curtly, not bothering to be polite to another doctor that would just stamp my forehead with the usual mark of a 'loony'.

"Oh, I have no doubts about that. Could you, perhaps, do a demonstration for me?"

Ha, I almost laughed, but not quite. "Need to see it to believe it, huh? Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I can't exactly control my visions." He scratched a note, so fast the movement was almost invisible, on a yellowed notepad on the tabletop. Of course: no proof: not credible… typical.

"I suppose you think you're insane," he chuckled, making another note. I presume he was making observations.

"No, but you probably do, along with everyone else here. I happen to know, from experience, that I'm not a liar or a lunatic, but- you know what they say- never trust an asylum junkie."

"Who says that?" He asked, cocking one eyebrow on his exquisite face.

"Mr. Krimley, my guard." _Krimley, that slime._

The next moment he was completely changing the topic. "Do you believe in mythological creatures, Alice?" I only gave him a puzzled look. "Vampires, maybe?"

"The same vampires the knuckle heads invented during Europe's black plague?"

"Very intuitive, but no. I'm thinking of a different type of vampire, a more humane one that prowls during the daylight hours. Ever heard of him?"

"I'm starting to think I'm not the only misjudged person in this room. Maybe you would like to take my cell?"

"Ha, ha," he boomed like velvet on silk. "If vampires weren't real, I might be under lock and key as well!"

I tried to keep my gaze on his angelic face, but my focus was fading fast and the room disappearing from sight. I knew, all to well, what would happen next.

_I saw a girl I'd never seen before; she resembled me with cropped ebony hair and short stature. But her skin was almost an alabaster and her irises solid black. The unnamed doctor stood just in a clearing with her, whispering unintelligible things into the air. They were waiting, for what I am not sure, until he stepped out of the shadows. The intruder's skin sparkled like a thousand gems embedded into his pores when the sunlight hit him, shining down from the gaps in the trees. The glittering man demanded the doctor hand him over the girl or his own life would be forfeit, and I was shocked to see the doctor step so willingly forward. "I love you, my only daughter," he whispered before the predator lunged. _

_Meanwhile, the beautiful girl seemed to be having an internal battle in her mind, not seeing the fight in front of her eyes. She shook her head wildly until the spiky locks haloed around her face. "I must find him, I must… I must," she repeated over and over, launching her self into the dense forest without a second glance back. _

_The scene flickered and the next few clips changed so fast, it was hard to keep track of. Smoke rose from the tree tops, then the strange man was running at an alarming speed after the girl; finally, the girl lost her tracker and fell into a cluster of bushes between two trees. She curled herself into a tight ball and sobbed dry tears. Her cries were broken by the snap of a twig. I saw the perked ears of a deer, the way they set when they knew they were in the range of a dangerous hunter._

…

Jasper and I have never been parted long since the day we found each other in the rundown saloon. I remember gazing across the smoky room into the scarlet eyes of the love I had been searching for since my first vision shortly after the change- my first memory. His southern accent was unmistakable then, and he talked with formality that I'd never heard in my own lifetime before then. He was my perfect companion: opposites attract, like magnets. We traveled together to the Cullens and helped one another fight our bloodthirsty instincts to become what we are today. There is no doubt that I would not still be in this existence without my guardian angel by my side, and I his.

Mary Alice Brandon Cullen

…

**Listen to **_**No Fear; The Rasmus.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: The Wanting Needs

_Vampire Crayons_

I became used to my usual visits to the office; however I was being even more so isolated in the asylum. Somehow rumors began to whisper through these halls that Mary Alice Brandon might actually be "let out". Some said that new doctor might put me on probation and live with a foster family; others said I was on death row, but either way, to all of us, that was being free.

_I was rifling through my littered closet and pulling out hanger after hanger of sweaters that I would dispose of because they fell out of style. Following that were the jeans, the white washed ones that I always thought clashed with my skin tone- finally they were disappearing off the fashion market. _

_My hands landed on a worn outfit that was squished so far back in the abode of the clothing. I rubbed the familiar fabric between my thumb and forefinger gingerly, relishing in the rough texture of the threads. I knew the color: forest green, rubbed gray in areas near the knees and neck were I suspected handling. There wasn't any form to this garment, just a simple dress that draped over one's body. This was the first piece I ever remember wearing. Next to it was the gaffe pants with the flared bottoms and the peasant shirt that everyone wore during that decade. The very get-up I wore the day I met Jasper Hale, ex-officer of the Civil War Calvary, vampire, and predator. _

­­­­

Krimley's voice spat through the window of my door, "The doctor's made a request for you, Miss Brandon."

Without a word in response, which shouldn't be expected, I sprung lithely from my bed and adjusted my uniform gown so it rested just so on my shoulders. I rolled my arms to and fro for a stretch and then extended my legs and pointed my toes. I admired my ankles that were healing nicely now that the guards weren't allowed to chain them together. And to maintain some dignity in the gracious doctor's presence I began wearing the stiff leather shoes the asylum assigns to its patients, despite the fact that they gave me awful blisters.

Slowly my mind memorized these hallways that I was led down at least a few times weekly. Mr. Krimley walked like a specter beside me or some otherworldly apparition that wasn't really there, but in fact really was. I paid him no heed. My day was coming, in one way or another. And for that all other things paled in comparison.

"Come in, sit down," The Doctor said, not once looking up from his papers. "Guard, leave- now." Mr. Krimley grunted before shutting the door and sauntering noisily away until called to return.

The impassive façade soon dissolved once we were by ourselves.

"What shall we talk about today, Doctor?" I inquired.

A radiant smile lighted his cold features; his face made me wonder if all angels would resemble snow, and if angels frequently visited the earth. Seeing him here I doubted heaven couldn't me missing a few seraphs this day and age.

"Please, it's Doctor Henry. Call me Henry."

I nodded my head humbly. One could only bestow honor upon this man. So few people he invited to his office, and those he did told tales of how handsome and brilliant he is. Doctor Henry would never talk to anyone as if they were less than him, selfless person that he is. He could see 'insanity' wasn't the case for most everybody here, like I. Henry saw the abused, the misunderstood, the truly gifted, and the forgotten. He saw people that once had family and now had stiff cots and shaved their head for lice.

"Henry, what do you wish to talk about?" I revised.

"Our aspirations: what do you want most Alice?" He was quite serious asking this, too.

I shuffled my feet and picked at the suddenly interesting pattern on the seat cushions. I could say something simple like comfy shoes with an expensive designer label, or for my hair to grow long like the ebony river it once was. Maybe I could answer with the hope that I'll fall in love and marry, or eat decent food. But instead, "I wish my sister, Cynthia would visit. I know it is too much to hope that my parents would come. And I'd want to put flowers on that old lady's grave as a last goodbye I never got to give. And if I never get out, I want Cynthia to do that for me."

He rubbed his temples. "That is a reasonable request. A child shouldn't be parted from her family, let alone her siblings." And after a sigh, "Would you like to know what I want most?"

"I would be honored-."

"Henry."

"I would be honored, Henry."

"Thank you," he grinned a small grin. A pause before he began again. "I want a daughter, my own child. I wanted a family… but all that's lost to me now. I had a girl once. She was six when I saw her last. You remind me so much of her, Alice. She was a rebel at heart and could never be contained. She shined in even the darkest of places."

I gasped, not in horror but in pleasure. To be so highly esteemed with this man… not much could compare, at the moment. "Me?"

"Yes…" Henry inhaled sharply from his nose. "Now rest your mind, dear little Alice. I'll call your guard. Remember to call me if you have a vision. I want to know."

I was given a few moments before I was taken from the doctor's keep. Our meeting was brief but already I had so much to ponder on.

Even if my sister were to visit me would she fear the encounter or look forward to it? Have our parents and society poisoned her against me and the institution. And his last remark; Dr. Henry simply proposed that I belonged with persons other than those who abandoned me, that there were still others still had faith in me.

Walking in the midst of the empty halls beside my captor, I whispered my promise. "Mary Alice Brandon will be free." Almost as if the walls were responding or if it were an echo I heard a thousand replies assault me. _She's going. She's going._

_Bella's heart accelerated and it's rapid beats could be heard by all vampires within the area, i.e. our coven. She stared desperately into her love's eyes, while a goofy smile played across her lips. "Edward," She whispered. And he picked her hand up in a loving gesture, intertwining his fingers though her delicate ones._

_Jasper cautiously approached me. I leaned into him as he wrapped his arm around my tiny frame. I remember love, the feeling._

_But…_

_I put a hand to my chest were my dormant heart lie in permanent rest. Do I remember that? The life? The adrenaline? Do I remember my own heart and the blood it pumped within? No. But I do remember the love. All you need is love… _


End file.
